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Net imports accounted for 26.5% of total petroleum and other liquid fuels consumed in the United States in 2014, the lowest percentage since 1971. Data through the first nine months of 2015 indicate a further reduction of net imports, averaging 24.6% of total consumption of petroleum and other liquid fuels. Increased U.S. crude oil production has replaced some crude oil imports, while increased refinery runs and global demand growth for petroleum products resulted in increased U.S. petroleum product exports. As a result, the United States remains a net importer of crude oil but less so, and is increasingly a net...

Commercial crude oil inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma (located in Petroleum Administration for Defense District, or PADD, 2) and the Gulf Coast (PADD 3) totaled a record high 309.4 million barrels as of the week ending November 27 (Figure 1). Based on the recently released storage capacity and line fill data in the September Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM), EIA estimates 70.2% utilization of working crude oil storage capacity in Cushing, Oklahoma and PADD 3 on a combined basis. This utilization level is only slightly below the record set in the week ending April 24 of this year. While often assessed separately,...

The New York Film Critics Circle has named Carol as its best picture of 2015. The Todd Haynes-directed film — which stars Cate Blanchett as a housewife who meets and begins an affair with a shop clerk and aspiring photographer, played by Rooney Mara, in 1950s New York — won four awards from the critics organization.

So machen wir es.

So Consumer Reports decided to put a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta TDI and a 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI to the test. To activate the car’s cheat mode, they pumped the accelerator pedal 5 times while the ignition was in the “on position” but the engine was off. To avoid being “kicked out” of the cheat mode when the car noticed the rear, undriven wheels spinning, CR simply unplugged the rear wheel speed sensors. Simple as that. Cheat mode activated. They ran their standard Consumer Reports drive cycle. This involved a city traffic simulation on the track and a 65 MPH highway...

Earlier this year, the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) reached its lowest level in decades, ending July at $6.1 billion dollars. A congressionally approved transfer of more than $8 billion boosted the fund's balance to end the fiscal year (September 30) at $12 billion, but that is still the second-lowest year-end level since 1984. Construction of the U.S. Interstate Highway System began in 1956. Extensions brought the total length of the system to 47,856 miles by 2013. Maintenance of this highway system and some new road construction is financed by the HTF, which receives revenue from taxes on gasoline and diesel...

After apologizing for two months, Volkswagen is finally putting its money where its mouth is, forking over $500 to VW car owners hit by its emissions cheating scandal. The payment will come in the form a gift card that can be spent anywhere. They'll also get another card worth $500 that can only be spent on purchases or services at VW or Audi dealerships, as well as free 24-hour roadside assistance for the next three years. It's the first time owners have been compensated by the German automaker, which admitted in mid-September that its cars use software designed to cheat...

If you live in one of the more than 20 states where Opus Inspection, through its subsidiary Envirotest, operates emissions testing programs, you may have seen its “RapidScreen” trucks and, more lately, unmanned stations set up beside the road, scanning the tailpipe emissions of passing vehicles. You may even live in a state where receiving a clean bill of health from one of these trucks a couple of times a year can exempt you from having to present yourself and your car for an emissions test at registration time (though you still have to pay the inspection fee, naturally). The...

A Volkswagen Touareg diesel is tested in the Environmental Protection Agency's cold temperature test facility, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Volkswagen has disclosed to U.S. regulators that there's additional suspect software in its 2016 diesel models that would potentially help their exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) **************************************************************************************************************************************** U.S. regulators say they have a lot more questions for Volkswagen, triggered by the company's recent disclosure of additional suspect software in 2016 diesel models that potentially would help exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests. That's more bad news for VW dealers looking for...

Breese Berkowitz of Walnut Creek bought a new 2015 Passat TDI on Sept. 12 to replace an aging Toyota Prius hybrid. Her family’s other car is a plug-in Prius, and she wanted something environmentally friendly but not another plug-in because she needed a longer range. Volkswagen had been advertising its “clean diesel” technology and Berkowitz thought the Passat — the “Eco-friendly Car of the Year,” according to Cars.com — offered great gas mileage without sacrificing performance. On Sept. 18, she and everyone learned it was a fraud, that Volkswagen had installed so-called defeat devices on 11 million Volkswagen and Audi...

Lions, and Tigers, and Volkswagens! Oh, my! We’re under assault by a Teutonic Terror. About half a million US diesel cars and 11 million worldwide sold by Volkswagen AG, including VWs, Audis, Seats, and Škodas, appear to have software that tricks emissions tests. Actual emissions are “40 times higher” we’re told. And people are dying. “Quatsch!” as they say in German. Nonsense! It’s just another car mass hysteria, like “runaway” Toyotas a few years ago and runaway Audis before that. At least one freaked-out occasional car reviewer engaged in public self-flagellation: “I was fooled by Volkswagen’s diesel hype—and I’m sorry,”...

Two top Volkswagen engineers who found they couldn’t deliver as promised a clean diesel engine for the U.S. market are at the center of a company probe into the installation of engine software designed to fool regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. The two men, Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi ’s chief engineer, and Wolfgang Hatz, developer of Porsche’s Formula One and Le Mans racing engines, were among the engineers suspended in the investigation of the emissions cheating scandal that sank the company’s market value by 43% since Sept. 18 and triggered a world-wide recall to refit the engines to...

WOLFSBURG, Germany—Two top Volkswagen engineers who found they couldn’t deliver as promised a clean diesel engine for the U.S. market are at the center of a company probe into the installation of engine software designed to fool regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. The two men, Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi ’s chief engineer, and Wolfgang Hatz, developer of Porsche’s winning Formula One engines, were among the engineers suspended in the investigation of the emissions cheating scandal that sank the company’s market value by 43% since Sept. 18 and triggered a world-wide recall to refit the engines to meet clear-air...

Audi and Skoda say they have a total of 3.3 million cars fitted with the software that allowed parent company Volkswagen to cheat US emissions tests. Some 2.1 million Audis affected worldwide include 1.42 million in western Europe, with 577,000 in Germany, and almost 13,000 in the US. Czech-based Skoda said 1.2 million of its cars were involved, but has yet to give a country or model breakdown. Separately, German prosecutors started a probe against VW's former boss. Former chief executive Martin Winterkorn will be investigated over "allegations of fraud in the sale of cars with manipulated emissions data," German...

The weekend break has not helped Volkswagen.Shares in the troubled German carmaker are crashing again, down 8.5% at 12.50 a.m. BST (7.50 a.m. ET).Google FinanceVolkswagen shares have been diving since it emerged that software in the company's cars was juicing the numbers on diesel emissions.On Monday, news broke that the scandal was even worse than first thought — over 2 million Audi cars are fitted with the same emissions-cheating software as Volkswagen's cars. Audi is owned by Volkswagen and produces higher-end cars.Bloomberg is also reporting that Volkswagen executives in Germany were directly involved in the faking of emissions, and former...

BERLIN (AP) — The "Made in Germany" label has stood for precision and reliability for decades, but since Volkswagen admitted to cheating on U.S. car emissions tests, many are questioning whether the automaker's problems could taint the rest of the country. It's the second serious blow to a major German company's reputation in six months, following the tragic crash of a Germanwings jet that killed 150 people. Parent company Lufthansa has faced questions over why it failed to identify the psychological issues suffered by the pilot who intentionally flew the plane into a French mountain. Will such crises tarnish the...

In the wake of the VW diesel scandal, German magazine Autobild found the Euro-market BMW X3 xDrive 20d also exceeds emissions limits by a significant amount. Volkswagen's unfolding diesel emissions crisis may prove to involve other automakers as well: German magazine Autobild reports that ​a German-market, diesel-powered BMW X3 xDrive 20d put out 11 times the legal limit of pollution in a test commissioned by the magazine. (Update below) Automotive News, which translated the Autobild report, explains that the BMW was tested by the International Council on Clean Transportation, the same group whose findings led U.S. regulators to investigate Volkswagen's...

Volkswagen Emissions Fix May Not Last Long Thanks to Aftermarket Tuners http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/09/volkswagen-emissions-fix-may-not-last-long/

The outlook for diesel looks grim after U.S regulators found that the world’s second biggest car manufacturer cheated on its emission tests. Last Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that Volkswagen violated the U.S Clean Air Act. The German auto maker deliberately rigged the so called emission control systems in several models of their cars in order to reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions when tested in the lab. However, when tested on the road, the size of the ‘diesel deception’ proved to be bigger than many could have imagined. Bloomberg reported on September 22 that on an open road test both...

BERLIN— Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday in the wake of a developing emissions scandal that has stunned the auto industry and slashed the car maker’s market value. “Volkswagen needs a fresh start—also in terms of personnel,” Mr. Winterkorn said. “I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation.” Mr. Winterkorn said that he accepted responsibility for the irregularities found in diesel engines and has asked the supervisory board to agree to his stepping down. He said, however, that he wasn't aware of any wrongdoing on his part.